Coming out of Suicide Squad, many wondered what David Ayer would do next. Would the filmmaker dive straight back into the DC Extended Universe to engineer Task Force X’s second big-screen outing? Or was Ayer planning to scale back in order to focus on a passion project?
And though the filmmaker has already agreed a deal to helm DC spinoff Gotham City Sirens for Warner Bros., Ayer has been keeping busy thanks to Bright, a Netflix fantasy drama from the creative mind of Max Landis (Chronicle).
Set in present-day Los Angeles, Bright is the story of two mismatched cops – namely Nick Jacoby (Joel Edgerton) and his very human partner-in-crime, Scott Ward (Will Smith) – who are put on the case of finding a magic wand in the City of Angels. That quest puts them on a collision course with Tikka, a young, wise-beyond-her-years elf to be played by up-and-comer Lucy Fry. It makes for a fascinating and indeed fantastical dynamic, and below, you’ll find an all-new action shot of that trio in question, courtesy of Empire.
Doubling down on the film’s supernatural elements, Joel Edgerton can be seen sporting a hefty amount of prosthetics as Nick Jacoby, who becomes the first orc to safeguard the City of Angels. But spending hours in the make-up chair presented challenges of its own, as David Ayer tells Empire:
“It’s totally maddening. [Joel] wanted the challenge. I think it has driven him mad. But it helps for character and performance, so it’s fine.”
Also starring Noomi Rapace (Alien: Covenant), expect Bright to debut in December. It’s arguably one of the more high-profile offerings headed to Netflix’s roster of original content, which recently welcomed Okja, Bong Joon-ho’s quirky parable on animal abuse, into its midst.